Screw pilings are known which comprise a shaft having a helix secured at a lower end thereof whereby to drive the piling into the ground when the shaft thereof is rotated in a clockwise direction. To impart a rotational drive to such shafts, heavy machinery is used whereby to attach a rotational drive to the top end of the shaft of the piling. An example of this system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,066,168. A disadvantage of such system is that the apparatus is large, is expensive to use and its use is restricted to open space areas. It cannot be utilized in areas where there is no access provided for this heavy machinery.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,180 discloses another apparatus wherein the piling is rotated manually. However, in hard ground surfaces this requires a lot of force by the user and accordingly the use of such screw pilings is restricted to loose soil. Another disadvantage of known screw piling systems is that they require at least three people to operate and it is therefore labour intensive. When a motor is secured to the top of the piling to rotate it, one person is required to stabilize the motor. Another person is necessary to maintain the piling substantially vertically and a third person is required whereby to operate the motor as such pilings are very unstable as they begin to penetrate within the ground surface. These systems are also hazardous to the operators. The installation can also be time-consuming as well as labour intensive and therefore this method is very costly. Known devices are also not ergonomically designed and are bulky and heavy, a further reason why they are labour intensive and difficult to use in remote hard-to-reach areas.